Featured Gig

Bio

A. Swayze & the Ghosts are a punk/garage outfit from Hobart Tasmania with a live show that is at all times raw, energetic and enigmatic. In the past 12 months they’ve performed at Falls Festival, MONA Faux Mo, A Festival Called Panama, Boogie Festival and By The Meadow as well as guest spots for The Living End and Total Control, Batpiss and The Stems. A. Swayze & the Ghosts released a 10+ minute belter of a début single in 2016 titled Reciprocation, followed up with 'Smooth Sailing' and their Debut EP in late 2017, helping to spread their music to an even larger listenership.

We started writing together in our share house about three years ago in a cramped messy bedroom occupied by the most eclectic assortment of items. Initially, we had altered our sound with guitar pedals and even had a Roland Space Echo to run our vocals through. The trouble was, we (I) always seemed to lose our gear – in pubs or the messy bed/studio/rehearsal room – so in turn, we were forced to use less and less equipment. Our songwriting quickly became about plugging in and just going for it relentlessly, and now I think we owe a portion of how we now sound live and recorded to a forced appreciation of the minimal.

What’s your greatest source of inspiration for making music?

We all bounce off each other with such energy when we plug in our instruments. From the get-go, there are ideas flying back and forth around the room and suddenly we’re completely engrossed in writing a song or something. Each of us seems to share a long-standing “addiction” of sorts to writing and performing songs. Constantly thinking about creating music, definitely helps with turning everyday encounters into inspiration for the songs we write.

What can punters expect from an A. Swayze & The Ghosts live show?

There will be a ‘soup’ of beer, sweat and sometimes blood on the stage by the end of a set, which always seems vulgar in hindsight, but it’s all just the bi-product of the high we chase from gigging. We started off as a trashy unrehearsed band and would often not make it through a set without some self-inflicted catastrophe. Nowadays the trashiness has (kind of) faded, we have more spatial awareness, and we know our songs, but the chaotic energy has remained the same.

What’s the best advice you’ve been given and who was it from?“Invest in Bitcoin.” – Hendrik Wipprecht (2012).

Great advice, although I never heeded. The power of hindsight is amazing.

What Australian track would you play to cheer up someone who was crying?

I honestly don’t have an answer.

What Australian track would you play to someone to make them cry?

Sadistically? Well if they were a Bowie fan, Gang of Youths’ cover of ‘Heroes’.

You’re the DJ at a party. The dance floor is pumping. What Australian track do you put on next?

Yothu Yindi –'Treaty'. I’ve always loved the remix by Filthy Lucre, even as a child I had the single and would thump around to it in my bedroom.

What was the last local gig you went to? How was it?

We were fortunate enough to get the local support for Total Control when they came to Hobart with Terry. It was a gig we wouldn’t have missed if we hadn’t been playing, as we’re all long-time fans of TC. It was at The Brisbane Hotel, which for us, is a familiar and iconic music venue in Hobart. The room was packed with a hoard of drunk punters all anxious for the music, the whole vibe of the place was warming. The thing that makes a great local gig is the energy and excitement the folks of Hobart bring, I love it. And of course, TC were amazing.

Tell us about the bands or people in the Tasmanian music community that inspire you.

We’ve had the support of so many outstanding people in the Tasmanian music scene: makers of music, publishers, and listeners alike. The community down here is not like any other major city we’ve spent time in, given the fact that everyone knows each other here - musical genres and cliques aside. Probably due to the population size and limited venues, bands from various ‘scenes’ play with one another and there are never enough punters involved for a specific ‘trend’ – which is very encouraging for honest creation.

All great people doing massive things for the music community in Hobart.

What’s the plan for the rest of 2017 and next year in 2018?

It’s clear that 2017 is going to close with us sleeping in tents at The Falls Festival in Marion Bay, as we will be gracing the stage there on New Year’s Eve. We’ve all been busy writing in our spare time and now that our EP release/tour has wound up we’ll start spending more of our days putting new songs together.

Recently we started construction on our own studio in a shared warehouse with some visual/sound artist mates of ours. Zac (drums) and Ben (bass) are both pretty involved with production down here, and we wanted a space of our own to get busy in, so this studio is both exciting and convenient.

Other than that, we have a bunch of interstate shows lined up for 2018, so people keep your ears and eyes out for an A. Swayze show near you!